Montrose Malarkey

Greetings from the Montrose clan! We kind of forgot this blog existed. Oops. It was a treat to catch

up on the doings of all the other Quacks! Thanks, Gemma, for your lovely posts! Here's an update of our latest doings.

You never know what you will find at Art City...

We've had a small spate of birthdays lately, with Uncle John in the beginning of Feb, Thomas and Joseph at the end of Feb and Becca at the beginning of March. I got to spend the day in Ventura with John the day before his birthday, which was a real treat! He took me to the Ventura Museum, regaled me with fascinating tales of our family history, then took me to the growing Ventura Botanical Gardens behind the city hall (with an epic view of the ocean!), and we finished up by visiting Art City, a fascinating labyrinth of stoneworking studios behind Vons in Ventura (for those of you who don't know). It was a lovely jumble of fun corners and nooks with whimsical surprises around every corner. Our day ended with a DELICIOUS dinner at the new, revamped Fresh Grill in Ojai.

Thomas and Becca went on a death-defying Lake Tahoe adventure over President's Day weekend, where there were snowball fights, accidental lake-dunkings (Thomas fell in during the snowball fight), naked dancing (courtesy of Gianna), one near-miss with a snowplow, and sundry other shenanigans, all culminating in a grueling 16-hr drive through two snowstorms which got them back to Montrose a scant two hours before Thomas had to present to the school board on the AP Chemistry program. (How's that for a run-on sentence?)

Uncle John, who spent a week or so with us over Christmas, came up again last weekend for a combined birthday party (Joseph couldn't make it though). We spent Saturday at the Science Center, where we took in an IMAX film (footage from the International Space Station), which Gianna sat through very calmly (only she refused to wear the 3D glasses). Then we went to see the space shuttle Endeavour, which is housed in a hangar next to the permanent exhibits. 

It was a quite a trip to stand underneath that thing and look up at the black tiles coating its belly, which are still marked with streaks from its last re-entry into our atmosphere. We all had a great time -- I especially enjoyed watching footage of astronauts playing with their food, and marveling at the ridiculously complex machinery required just to go pee in zero gravity. (Fun fact: it involves a funnel and a vacuum tube and sometimes you need to turn on the camera inside the toilet to help you make sure your alignment is correct). After all the space-stuff, we came back to Montrose for a delicious Chinese dinner. It was very tasty, although John almost missed it because he was telling us about the history of Taiwan. 

The next day was the Pasadena Pro Musica, so Thomas, Becca, John, Dan, and Dre (who was visiting over the weekend) all went to that. I stayed home because I was feeling weird. While I was home, I heard a lot of loud mechanical noises and some kind of aircraft went hurtling over our house in the direction of downtown LA, so I kind of hid in my room for the latter part of the evening. When everybody got back I screwed up my courage and we all went outside to see if there was any damage. The yard was littered with strange, phosphorescent debris that looked kind of like glow-sticks. There turned out to be messages clipped to them, which sounded like damage reports from some space craft. I don't think it was from earth. It was kind of funny that this would happen while John was visiting, since he was the one who introduced us to Zeno Claus all those years ago...

Anyway, long story short, this space craft was having malfunctions and trying to figure out what was wrong, jettisoning different things in the attempt to isolate the problem. It turned out to be their fuel cells, which contained an experimental fuel that wasn't really designed to power spacecraft. They had to jettison it (AND the extraction apparatus, which was contaminated), and somehow it landed in our outdoor storage bin with a lot of flashing warning lights on it. Fortunately it wasn't harmful to humans, so we ingested it (of course).

Testing out the fuel extraction apparatus. John is skeptical.

There were also some unstable back-up energy packs, which we fired at Madeleine when she got home from her clinical. It was a pretty fun night.

John stayed with us for about a week, and we had a great time, watching the occasional Twilight Zone, having good dinners and TJs wine, and John's signature vanilla ice cream covered in unsweetened dark chocolate powder (which he keeps in a wildflower seed container, of course). Also his own, home-brewed apricot brandy -- yum! He also generously chauffeured Madeleine to school one day and she got some much-needed sleep in the car. Toward the end of the week there were a couple of SMA baseball games (Thomas assistant-coaches). Becca, John and Gianna went to the first one, and then Becca, Gianna and I went to the one on Friday (which was 12 innings and lasted four hours -- pretty intense! We didn't win but we hung on pretty long.) Meanwhile, John made us a yummy dinner of TJ's cioppino, rice (with huge delicious TJs raisins), veggies and garlic bread, and when we got back, we had a little celebration for Becca's birthday.

John left yesterday for the Quack ranch, but we're planning to have more visits soon -- and maybe go to the Science Center again!

Yesterday I went out to TAC for Much Ado About Nothing, in which Joseph played the part of Don Pedro. It was hilarious! All of the actors were incredible, and Joseph's performance was excellent. He and his co-stars (and the directors, of course) did an amazing job bringing the humor out of the scenes which can be potentially rather boring (you know, the ones that are mostly a bunch of dudes clapping each other on the back and pretending to laugh at their dreadful Elizabethan puns). I've never laughed so hard at a production of Much Ado, nor have I so often spontaneously burst into applause in the middle of a scene of Shakespeare simply because the way the actor said his last speech was just awesome.  I didn't get any pictures, unfortunately, but I'm sure there will be a slideshow on the TAC website (thomasaquinas.edu) at some point. 

We are doing very well as you can see -- Gianna's getting cuter every day and her vocabulary is expanded rapidly. I discovered the other day that she can finish most of the sentences of her favorite books, including the Bible (it's pretty funny to hear her try to say "Pharaoh"). She loves to "hup" (help) us adults with a wide variety of activities, from stirring things (her favorite) to going to the bathroom (not my favorite). She still refers to Madeleine as "Eeny", but my name has morphed from "Bleh-Bleh" to "Bia-Bia", which she sometimes likes to chant to herself in quiet corners (???). Her favorite things are still dancing around naked in the living room, stirring things ("shoy"), pouring things ("pooy"), reading ("wee"), having Thomas and Becca sing Silent Night to her at bedtime ("shy"). She can say her alphabet ("aboo", I think) with about 85% accuracy and recognizes and correctly names all the letters (in fact, when the IMAX movie title came on, she started announcing the names of various letters that she had spotted in it).

And that's the news from Montrose, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the babies are above average.

Happy Birthday to our lovely Rebecca!

                         

We miss you!

                                   
     Today began with a "thermo-nuclear explosion just above the horizon." (-Dad)
A suitable beginning for such a special day!
     It's a bright, sunny day today, and we're all enjoying the sunshine and little flowers around campus that are finally beginning to show themselves! School's back in full swing for everybody, and our other activities have started up again, and so we've been kept very busy.

On the way to the Albertina in Vienna.

     On the first day of the new semester everybody gathered for Mass in the Byzantine chapel and we sang in the choir and then processed into the Schloss for our quartet performance and a short speech by the president, followed by a lunch and some classes. We played two movements from Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and it was a fun challenge and success! A fellow student, one of my professors from last semester and I met a few times the week before to rehearse, and the night before the event we managed to find a cello player (a former violin student of my professor and now professional cellist) who was willing to play with us. (It's amazing to hear the difference when you add that cello to the mix!) So we took a trip to her house in Vienna the day before school started, played through the music and met her family. It was slightly daunting since I've never been a part of a violin group where I actually had to hold my own, and that with two professionals breathing down my neck...(they weren't actually doing that at all but still...) But mostly it was just a really happy and new experience and I'm so grateful it worked out.

Sunday brunch with Martin and Lael!

     We've finally started rehearsals for Peter Pan, and while it's still rather an experiment, it's been fun to have a reason to spend time with the little kids here and see the thing start to come together! One needs joyful interactions with little kids. The other day I was biking back from class, there was a beautiful sunset (which we haven't had for a while because of the overcast foggy/snowyness lately), and all of a sudden I found myself charged by all the priests' children, a mob of little boys and girls led by Theodore who's approximately twice as tall as each of them, who were coming at me and yelling. So I sped up and charged them, and when there was danger of collision I braked, closed my eyes and hoped for the best. Soon I was surrounded and held captive by them all, and they were yelling things like "break the bike! Don't let her go!" After being accused of being a heathen because I wasn't going to Liturgy I was set free and sent on my way so they could go pray. Then I was left to the peaceful sunset again, feeling grateful for weird, happy little surprises in a normal day.

     Rosie's been kept busy with her school, ping-pong and pool with Rachel and me sometimes, and Peter Pan work. She's loved to go stargazing with Rachel or friends from school on clear nights lately since it's finally warm and clear enough to see and appreciate the stars again! (I haven't joined yet since they always go at a million o:clock...) A few days ago Rosie, Rachel and Theodore took a free afternoon, bought strawberries and whipped cream from the local grocery store, walked to a little hill in Trumau and had a mini picnic. I thought that was a happy story so I told it. :)
     Irene has been diligently finishing her homework each day and getting to bed on time so she can get up before the rest of us and go to school. She's been getting sick fairly often recently, so has missed several days of school, but she's been able to participate in some exciting adventures too. She went with a first Communion class last Saturday to RadioMaria in Vienna and got to speak on the radio. I don't really know what it was for, but she says she was asked a few questions like "Do you like it in Austria" and such, and she responded "Ja" a few times--she's basically famous. She also got to go ice-skating in Vienna and skiing for the first time yesterday! (She says it wasn't very fun and they spent the whole day learning how to stop.) She and I have been working on violin together, and she is improving fast (especially when she actually practices on her own...although that happens less often than it could.)

Such a fun group!
It was quite the challenge to dance swing with the long dresses, but we managed it. ;)

     I got to attend a ball in Vienna a few weeks ago with a group from the ITI, and we had a wonderful time and danced till 3am! We learned how to Viennese waltz the week before, and then when the day came we all dressed up fancy-like and went to a pre-party of some sort at the St. Rochus church (it was the parish putting on the ball I think). It was another new, slightly daunting but fun experience, and we made some new friends (most people know English fairly well). It was definitely interesting to find ourselves in a huge group of people that we didn't know and who spoke a different language and join them in something as familiar and fun as dancing swing, waltz, and polka! (Austrian polka is pretty weird but fun). About 300 people came to the actual ball, which we walked to after spending a few hours socializing at the parish. It took place in a big and fancy room with nicely decorated tables and an area for dancing, and there was plenty of food, alcohol and coffee to be had if desired. Mostly we just drank water and I avoided the sparkling kind like the plague. I don't understand why people drink that stuff. In our small group from the ITI we had people from Montana, California, Germany, Austria and Lithuania, and we'd all gotten to know each other and spoke English together.  I can't really describe it very well, but something about that familiarity and friendship that was there yet with such different backgrounds in language, life and experience was striking to me. We were all enjoying and living the same event together, but most of the people in our group weren't even speaking their first language. I guess it's a new thing for me to have friendships with people who have never seen the places so familiar to me or known the people I grew up with, and then to realize that they also have lived entire lives that I know next to nothing about!

Brother and sister jam session.

     This past weekend we had a lovely visit with Uncle Martin and his girlfriend Lael Kimble, and we got to show them around Trumau and take a few trips to Vienna. The first evening they were here there was a Mardigras party/dance with our friends here, so us kids went to that while Mom, Dad, Martin and Lael spent the evening at home, and then the next morning we all went to Sunday Liturgy together, had a nice brunch and then went to the Albertina art museum in Vienna. We had an especially enjoyable few days because Lael kept herself busy relieving all our various ailments by her wondrous massage therapy skills. Mom now has new hope for her foot, which has had a really painful problem our entire time here. Lael gave her some long massages and instructions for stretches and such that should help! She also gave Claire and me jaw massages to help with TMJ, which Claire often has issues with though I think mine hasn't acted up for a long time. Thank you Lael!

Vienna!

     We had a few guitar and singing/sessions, Mom, Rosie and Martin taking turns on the guitar, and Claire wowing us with her original songs and playing on the Ukelele with Jakie and Lael singing back-up harmonies! On Monday before they left Mom and some of the girls showed them around Trumau, and they stopped at a bakery and bought some cake.
     Jakie's been spending lots of time with her friend Brenna (who came over the other day and offered to make us pancakes for dinner! Yum!)  And they've joined us in the Byzantine choir too. We sing for Liturgy on Fridays. The Liturgy is very different for Lent, all different melodies and lots of prostrations! It's really beautiful though.

Mom and our friend Melanie. Mom
was showing her what she missed
in the last class.

Walking through Trumau!

Sharing some cake from the bakery in the
nearby town Oberwaltersdorf. 

   
















   

   
     Mom has been working on an icon, taking a class once a week from someone at the ITI. It's fun to see the icon progress after each session! Dad just left for a men's retreat at Lillian Feld Cistercian Monastery for the weekend with a group of ITI boys. Wishing all a blessed season of Lent!